Who is my Alias?

Before being assigned James Buchanan in class, I did not know who he was. After reading a bit about him, I learned that he was a very influential economist, especially with public policy, and he was awarded a Nobel Prize for his contributions. He attended school at the University of Virginia and later went to the University of Chicago for graduate school. Buchanan understood cost-benefit analysis and explained how costs are subjective to individuals, so it is nearly impossible to analyze costs and benefits for different people. His novel, Cost and Choice, thoroughly explains this concept, and is very well-known. His biggest contribution has to do with public choice. There are two levels: where the constitution is chosen, and the post constitutional level. He demonstrates that the first level is more important to think about the first level, which is seen as setting the rules of the game. He suggested that people should worry less about being political players in what is seen as the second level of the game, when politicians try to play the game. With this way of thinking, he started a new journal, Constitutional Economics.

 I do think his work is important for our course: this new method of thinking that he initiated played a huge role in how organizations functioned and made decisions during this time period. His work served as a foundation for cost-benefit analysis: how individuals make decisions. This is a huge part of microeconomics, and will be used as a foundation throughout this course and many others.

https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Buchanan.html

Comments

  1. Professor ArvanSeptember 4, 2019 at 9:04 AM

    Buchanan's frequent co-author was Gordon Tullock. As an undergrad I took a course in political science called economic models of politics. One of the books we read was by Buchanan and Tullock, The Calculus of Consent.

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